Home is not always where the heart is
by viequalzpain
Summary: Phoenix had moved to Scotland after loosing her twin sister but returns to Japan to meet her brother's new wife and soon his first born. However when she returns instead of the happy reunion she had been hoping for she is greeted with pain and regret. Will she be able to rekindle the love she had for her best friend? Or will her fear make her run away again? (might turn M)


I step off out of the ship and stretch happy to finally be freed from the confines of the ship that had taken me from my true home in Scotland to the place of my birth Japan. I had come back to meet the woman who deemed herself worthy to marry my baby brother. I would have to be the judge of that I love Sasuke very much since he is the only real family I have left now that my parents had finally passed and my twin sister had left this world many years before. So I was going to see her and see if she was truly as amazing as Sasuke had made her out to be in his letters. He said that her name was Momiji I think, and that is a pretty enough name I suppose. But regardless I doubt that I will like her.

"Well better get this over with…" I mumbled unhappily as I head toward the house that I had been raised in and that Sasuke had never moved out of. As I am walking up the distantly familiar path that leads to my childhood home I am assaulted by memories…

"HELP!" I heard Sasuke's screams coming from the garden so I ran out to find out what happened. But all I saw was Saizo standing near the chicken coup with an extremely smug look on his adorable face that made my heart flutter.

"What happened to Sasuke?" I asked him, pushing aside my feelings.

"I have no idea what you mean the idiot probably ran away." he said rather suspiciously.

"HELP! PHOENIX SAVE ME!" I heard Sasuke scream from inside the chicken coup.

"What!?" I ran to get him out and the second I opened the door half the chickens jumped out and my baby brother threw himself into my arms covered in feathers. "What the bloody hell were you doing in there?!" I immediately scolded him.

"Saizo locked me in there and wouldn't let me out! I was so scared!" he told me while he started to sob on my chest.

"Saizo, why did you lock Sasuke in there you know he doesn't like chickens!"

"Hmph the idiot deserved it for making fun of me." he said while pouting. His pouting face sent shivers down my spine and almost tempted me to forgive him on the spot. But no Sasuke is more important… I hope…

"Sasuke did you make fun of Saizo?" I asked as he continued to hold me tightly and sob.

"NO! Well only a little… It was funny!" he said between sobs.

"And didn't I tell you to leave him alone because he is a lot stronger than you?"

"I'm just a strong as he is! I'm a man!" he yelled angry now.

"If you are as strong as he is then why did you let him put you in the chicken coup? And you can't be a man yet you still have to be my adorable baby brother so I can still cuddle with you and hold you when you cry!" I told him hoping to calm him down.

"No! I'm tired of being the baby of the family!" Sasuke said defiantly.

"Then stop acting like such a baby you monkey." Saizo said coolly. I softly glared at him.

"Saizo be nice to him he is still young, he hasn't even hit double digits yet!"

"Hmph still no excuse to cry all the time."

"I don't cry all the time!" Sasuke interjected in an attempt to defend his manhood.

"Okay, okay, you two-" I started to say.

"GUYSSSSSS DINNNNERRRRRR COOOMMEEE AND EAT!" yelled my overly excited twin sister, Articuna as she popped her head out the dining room door. The two of us are perfect opposites she is named after a great bird of Ice and I was named after the immortal fire bird. And just as you would expect with twins she is perfect at everything I can't do and I can do anything she can't. This is most apparent in my lack of cooking skills (unless you want a pile of charred ingredients) and her ability to cook anything to perfection. As I am with my nearly flawless battle techniques and strategies, she is well lets just say she should stay in the kitchen. She is always so happy and bubbly…

I instantly snap back to reality when thoughts of my sister come up. I can't think of her now no, if I do I know that I will just run back to Scotland and I need to be here right now. Then the house comes into view. The quaint little home from my past it is a little small for a family of five but I never thought of it as cramped. I always saw it as warm and cozy, back in the day I loved my home that was always filled with my families smiles and loud voices… So peaceful... Just as I start to drift into more memories I am suddenly tackled by a huge ball of muscles and orange hair.

"PHOENIX I MISSED YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!" The ball screamed at me and I can hardly recognize my baby brother who used to come up to barely my waist.

"Sasuke? What the hell happened to you! You're huge!" I immediately blurt out.

"Ha ha did you think I would stay a little squirt all my life?" He says while smiling and lets me go finally.

"Well I suppose not but damn you grew!" We continue to joke lightly as we walk up to the house holding hands like we always used to do.

"Welcome home Phe it's been a really long time since you were here." Sasuke says joyfully while opening the door. But the room inside is not the one from my memories and my smile instantly fades. There is not the amazing smell of my sisters cooking, or the sound my mother's singing, or of my father's booming voice, or the loud smacks of Sasuke fighting with Saizo in the garden. Instead there are strange smells and silence. And it makes me sick. I knew this would be hard but not this hard and I knew things would be different but not this different.

"Sasuke, is she here?" A strange woman comes out of the kitchen who I can only assume to be Momiji.

"Yup! Let me introduce you! This is my big sister Phoenix. Phe this is my wife Momiji." He says warmly and she bows politely. I know that I should reply or bow or something but all I can do is stare at the stranger that has invaded and changed my home so much. "Um, Phe you want to say something there?" Sasuke asks slightly awkwardly. But all I can muster is a very awkward head bob before I turn and walk down to what used to be my room. But once again the room I am greeted with is completely foreign. The room that had been my safe haven for so many years, the room that was filled of happy memories of late nights with my sister, has been turned into a nursery for their baby. All the memories erased and forgotten by this stranger who forced her way into our family.

"Is she alright?" I hear the stranger ask Sasuke sounding worried.

"Yeah she's fine it's probably just hard for her to be back here after so many years." He replies.

"Well then I'll just have to help her is anyway I can!" She says sounding extremely chipper and I resist the urge to cringe. I want absolutely nothing to do with her. Ever.

"That may not be the best plan, just leave her be and she'll be fine." Sasuke says and I internally thank him, if anything he remembers how much I like my solitude and my distrust of strangers. Then I hear loud footsteps that could only belong to my now huge baby brother behind me.

"Um, hey Phe so you might have guessed but we kinda re-purposed your room sorry! Gotta make room for the little one on the way you know. So I'll show you to the guest room." Sasuke explains to me most likely expecting me to be pissed but all I feel is sadness. 'Make room'? He would erase all the memories of our sister for this stranger and a child he doesn't even know? I had to try my hardest to hold back my tears. So I simply nod and follow him to what used to be his room. And again I find a different room than the one that used to belong to my adorable and very eccentric little brother. Instead it is a generic room that belongs in a middle class inn. After getting all my things put away I tell the disgustingly happy strangers that I'm going for a walk and leave.

I find myself mindlessly walking to the riverbank where I used to always hide when I wanted to be alone or to cry. However when I get there I see something I was never expecting to see…

Saizo. He is sitting where we used to sit for hours on end talking so, so long ago. He looks exactly like he did when I left only he has grown from an adorable little boy into the most handsome man I have ever seen. Then as if sensing my presence he looks over at me and I can see all the color drain from his face as if he had seen a ghost.

"Phoenix? Is-Is that really you? No it can't be…" he mumbles in a voice so befitting to his perfect face yet still similar to the little boy I grew up with.

"Saizo… I'm home…" I whisper as the tears I had been trying so hard to hold back come forward. The second he hears my voice he seems to confirm that I am real and instantly he pulls me into his arms that have grown so much in the years…


End file.
